Nut Butters Face-Off

I can’t even count the number of different high protein nut butters I’ve seen lately and they all look SO amazing, but which one is the best? Which one is the cleanest? I was determined to find out. I took 3 of the most popular brands I’ve seen and put them to the test: Buff Bake, Muscle Butter, & Nuts ‘n More. Granted, these reviews are my personal opinion for the specific flavor mentioned below.

I planned a special trip to the local Vitamin Shoppe to pick up some Nuts’n More and Muscle Butter. I had already purchased some Buff Bake from their website- but have seen it sold at Whole Foods. Unfortunately, this won’t necessarily be apples to apples and I’ll get to that in a minute. Below are the items/flavors I purchased along with the macros for a 2 TBSP serving.

From a nutritional standpoint- they are all very close so really preference is going to come down to taste. With these particular flavors Nuts ‘n More is a peanut based product, Buff Bake is an almond based product, and Muscle Butter is a cashew based product. This alone could influence which one you prefer since peanuts give a distinct taste while almonds and cashews give a distinct texture.

Nuts ‘n More: this tastes very much like a creamy peanut butter with a fine toffee crunch in it. I found the texture to be somewhat runny and much like peanut butter, it leaves your mouth feeling dry. The toffee tends to sink to the bottom so you have to give it a good stir to get a well-balanced bite. While the other two nut butters use coconut sugar to sweeten their product, Nuts ‘n More uses Xylitol. I did a little research on it Xylitol, but there hasn’t been enough research done on it in my opinion.

Buff Bake: the texture is that of your standard almond butter. For me, the flavor really stands out in this one more so than the others. I was surprised by how they completely nailed the birthday cake flavor in this. Buff Bake is the only nut butter I have found that uses hormone-free whey, organic coconut sugar and organic coconut oil.This nut butter has the highest content of fiber- which is huge since most people don’t get the recommended amount of daily fiber (25g per day for women, 38g per day for men).

Muscle Butter: the texture of this product is amazingly soft due to the use of cashews as the base. The sprinkles, while aesthetically pleasing also add a nice pop of sweetness. The sprinkles are colored using beets, turmeric and other feel-good clean ingredients. The birthday cake flavor is good, but mild. This is great for my fiancee who doesn’t have a strong sweet tooth like me. Muscle Butter uses coconut sugar to sweeten their product.

Verdict: My preference is for Buff Bake. Not only was the entire jar gone within 2 weeks but Buff Bake uses organic ingredients and hormone free whey unlike the others. Not to mention, how can you beat 4g of fiber?!